IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section A

Abstract

Cities are striving to employ state-of-the-art digital technology to maintain their competitive edge. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the selected case area of Macao’s Historic Centre and its buffer zones comprise more than twenty ancient monuments, various historic streets, residential and religious buildings, and public spaces interwoven in the heart of the city. Employing narrative city walks, observations, a document-based analysis, and in-depth interviews, this qualitative study investigates digital placemaking-led heritage revitalization through examining the case site’s hybrid physical-digital attributes and individuals’ digitally mediated engagement and interactions with urban heritage. It is found that various hybrid spatial properties afford individuals new experiences and accommodate people-heritage interactions in a dynamic and immersive scenarios, which, to some extent, even moves beyond the designated historic and heritage quality. A form of ‘living heritage’ can thus be digitally produced at different scenarios that escape the site’s historical bounding. With the emphsis on daily life values, a more inclusive approach to technologically revitalize urban heritage sites is revealed. Furthermore, it could potentially provide a pathway to the historic city’s sustainable urban development. It is therefore suggested that designers and planners should be aware that technologically mediated lived-in heritage experiences greatly unfold the significant potential of heritage preservation and revitalization. However, the needs for balancing the residents’ conceptions of everyday urban heritage and the threat of causing technologically fragmented heritage sites are addressed in the meantime.